


Await the Night Spirit

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [37]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Lin is the president, Love, Standalone, Support, Uncertainty, it made sense at the time, kyalin - Freeform, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 17:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13299639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: What HAS Kya been getting up to at night? Lin needs to know.





	Await the Night Spirit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slowdissolve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowdissolve/gifts).



> Note: A Kyalin oneshot. My first, in fact. Korra and Asami aren't the only adorable queer couple in town!

President Lin Beifong was normally a heavy sleeper. She woke five minutes before her alarm, every morning, well back into her teenaged years, but now waking her up any sooner usually required physical violence.

But tonight, Lin was having trouble. The duties of her job weighed on her, her joints ached, dinner wasn’t sitting well with her… she lay in bed, eyes closed, but sleep eluded her. It wouldn’t make any of those problems any less in the morning--she’d be even surlier if she was tired all day--and that only made her insomnia worse.

The bed shifted, and Kya slipped out. Probably just going to the bathroom or something. Lin considered rolling over, asking how she was, maybe maneuvering for some comforting cuddles--not that she’d ask for one or admit she loved them or anything--but honestly it was already so late, she didn’t want to risk waking up any further than she was. Perhaps, if she pretended to sleep hard enough…

A few minutes later, the front door clicked. If not for Lin’s keen senses and the utter silence of the apartment, there’s no way she would’ve heard it.

Lin sat up, squinting out their bedroom door. “Kya?”

Nobody replied. Where could she be going at this time of night?

Grumbling, Lin kicked her feet off the bed, slipping into the fluffy pink slippers that looked ridiculous but were comfy as all getup. A gift from Kya--who else would buy her something soft? She shuffled from room to room, flipping on lights, but not finding Kya, not a note, nothing.

Finally, she opened the front door herself, peering out.

“Madam President,” one of the guards posted outside greeted. “Is everything okay, Ma’am?”

Lin frowned. “Is Kya out here?”

“No, Ma’am. She’s gone on one of her excursions.”

Excursions? “Did she say where?”

“No, Ma’am. Can’t say that she did.”

“How often does she go on these… excursions?”

The guard shifted on his feet, clearly uncomfortable. “I can’t say, Ma’am. I’m not here every night. Once or twice a week? Perhaps you should ask her, Madam President.”

Lin looked away, looked inward. Where was Kya sneaking off to? Why? “Thank you.”

“Should we tell her you were looking for her when she returns?”

“No. No, forget about it. Don’t tell her anything.”

“Of course, Madam President. Good night, Madam President.”

“Goodnight,” Lin said, gently shutting the door. Her hand lingered on it as she thought.

Kya was out there, somewhere, doing flameo knew what… but not something she wanted Lin to know about. Life was hectic as the President’s partner, no doubt, but what was she not getting from Lin that she needed to go elsewhere?   

She rubbed her eyes. Damned things were watering. She should be asleep, clearly the fatigue was getting to her.

Lin crawled back into bed, pondering where the woman she loved might be, and why. She was still awake when Kya quietly slipped back into bed, hours later.

 

-

 

Things seemed normal for the next few days, other than Lin’s mounting exhaustion. Luckily, no crises cropped up that required her leadership, and she was able to nearly sleepwalk through a few meetings--not that she didn’t feel guilty about it. The United Republic deserved better.

Kya deserved better. Why couldn’t she just… why couldn’t she tell Lin what she was doing?

Not that Lin asked. Then Kya would know that Lin knew that she was… whatever she was.

Ridiculous. She was being ridiculous. She trusted Kya with her life, if she needed to go out at night and commune with the moon spirit or whatever it was, she wouldn’t begrudge her that.

But… why was she hiding it?

“Hey,” Kya said, as Lin grumbled her way back, looking up from her folded-back novel. “Spirits, Lin, you look shredded.”

Lin grumbled agreement, shrugging out of her coat and managing to get it on its hook on the third try.

“Aww, rough day?” Kya asked, her hands on Lin’s shoulders, her thumbs digging into the base of her neck. “Want me to warm up some water, help you sleep?”

Lin shook her head, though that’s what she wanted most in the world. “I don’t think I need it. I’m going to stuff something nutritious in my mouth and crash.”

Kya snickered, kissing Lin under her ear. “Well, if you change your mind…”   

Lin didn’t change her mind. Did Kya want to use her relaxing waterbending to help her, or did she want Lin asleep so she could sneak--

“Hey,” Kya asked, frowning as Lin got ready for bed. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Lin nodded, feeling her gut roiling. Was it another woman? No, Kya wouldn’t. She wouldn’t! But why wouldn’t she _tell_ her?

“Lin--”

“I love you,” Lin said as she sat on the bed. “You know that, right?”

“Oh, Lin,” Kya smiled, sitting beside her and cradling her face. “Of course I do. And I love you too. Now, what’s this about?”

Lin covered Kya’s hand with her own, closing her eyes as she leaned into it. She should just ask. All she had to do was ask. Why didn’t she just-- “I just don’t tell you enough, is all.”

Kya leaned in for a kiss. It felt as warm and real and true, as it always did. “I’m not gonna argue with more affection.”

Lin laughed, but let Kya help her into bed. She rolled onto her side, and closed her eyes.

Her sleep was unusually fitful. Part of her knew it was going to happen again tonight, _needed_ to know where Kya was going. Aeons later, when Kya left their bed, Lin waited as she had before, her heart pounding.

The front door clicked.

Lin vaulted from bed, dressing herself quickly, gathering her things. Dark colored clothing, a cloak with a hood… precisely what she knew would make it easiest to avoid being spotted. Of course, if she _was_ spotted, it would be obvious she was skulking, but she’d just have to make sure that didn’t happen.

She cinched up her belt as she stepped outside, not two minutes after Kya had. “Which way did she go?” Lin asked the guard.

“Madam President!”

“Just tell me!”

The guard pointed. “If you need an escort--”

“I don’t” Lin said, reeling her police-issue metal cable out, snagging a nearby building, and swooping away.

Lin had scoped out the neighborhood, and plotted the most likely routes someone might take if they were casually avoiding attention. A side street a few doors down had quite a bit less light, and it didn’t take long to spot the tall, slender figure strolling toward the bay.

She may have been a few years out of practice, but Lin had kept in shape, and traversed the rooftops as quick and quiet as a bird. Kya slipped between two buildings, hid behind a bush, and generally exhibited all sorts of behavior a perp did when they didn’t want to get caught.

_Kya isn’t a perp. She’s not. She’s… I don’t know what._

__

The cop in Lin’s head scoffed at her, but Lin couldn’t well shove the thought away. Cop mode was all-or-nothing for her, and she knew how capable Kya could be. She had to be careful.

Eventually, Kya led them to another apartment building, taller than the one that had become the presidential residence, but far shoddier. A middling part of town, on the downswing but not yet a slum. Was she here to buy something? Meet with someone?

Lin circled around the perimeter, casing it for potential exits, when she spotted a lit window on the third floor, behind a fire escape. The shadows moving caught her eye, changing as someone entered the room. She recognized Kya’s hair, even with the blinds drawn--and the motion of Kya removing her coat.

Lin’s knuckles cracked. Simple philandering. She never was one to be tied down, you knew

 _No_. She wouldn’t.

You know what you saw.

I know what I saw and I know what it looks like but I know _Kya_ too and she _wouldn’t_.

Why? Because you’re so loving and attentive to her needs?

Lin hissed, shook her head. Kya wouldn’t hurt me like that.

_Cheaters never think they’ll get caught. You know how this works._

She snorted air out of her nose, ready to keep arguing with herself for hours, but the shadows in the window kept moving. Kya’s was pulling something over her head, then gathering her hair, twisting it tight. What was--

The blinds opened, then the window. Kya looked out, dressed as sneakily as Lin was now, with her entire head covered, and crawled out onto the fire escape.

Well, it wasn’t cheating. Lin hated herself for how relieved she felt, but her brow furrowed. Where _was_ the woman going that she had to do it in disguise, at night?

Kya moved furtively through the shadows, and Lin nearly lost her half a dozen times. Lin knew how capable a bender she was, but she never suspected how stealthy she could be, too!

Lin was even more surprised when Kya approached an older Cabbage Car, waterbent the door open, and hot wired it. She certainly had picked up some skills in her years travelling the world…

She followed Kya as she drove the stolen car at a sedate pace, increasingly uncomfortable in her bafflement. She trusted Kya to have a good reason to be sneaking out in the dead of night, donning a disguise, and stealing a vehicle… but she certainly couldn’t think of one. But for that matter, she couldn’t think of any logical _bad_ reasons either. Kya didn’t need the money, she wasn’t joyriding, there was no reason to think she had a problem with the car’s owner…

Kya pulled into a shadowed alley to park. Lin perched on a rooftop nearby, shivering in the night breeze off the bay. They were in one of the worst parts of town now, but it was just that late hour that even the criminals who lurked at night had mostly settled down.

Lin didn’t have a great view of what Kya was doing, but she could make out her lithe form quietly scaling the side of a tenement. She paused at a sixth-floor window, and moments later, entered it. Lin took her chance, swooping down, metalbending the trunk latch open, and stowwing herself inside. Maybe Kya would try to use the trunk, but she could always hold it shut. It was a risk, but this whole excursion was too mystifying--Lin _needed_ to know more.

She didn’t have to wait long, before the car door opened--and then another. Kya wasn’t alone. Though their voices would normally be too muffled for Lin to hear, especially once the engine started, she had a few tricks of her own. She put her hand against a metal part of the chassis, and felt for the vibrations. Not from the road--but from voices.

“I can turn around and take you back, if you want,” Kya said.

The other person must’ve shook their head or something.

“It’s scary,” Kya said, a moment later. “Even as bad as they treated you, it was the life you knew. But I know a place where you will be a lot safer, where you can be yourself.”

More silence.

“Shang?” Kya asked. “I know that’s what they called you. You don’t have to keep that name, if you don’t want. Might even be better if you didn’t. Is there a name you like better? Something else you wish people would call you?”

“Lin,” the other voice finally answered, and in the trunk, Lin gasped. Even one syllable was enough to recognize a child’s voice! “Like the President.”

Kya laughed. “That’s a damned fine name, little Lin. Damned fine.”

‘Lin’ giggled.

“Alright,” Kya said, now that the child was responding, “so the place we’re going is a little secret, but I know the people who work there. They just _love_ kids, especially kids like us.”

“Like us?”

“Yeah. Ones who are… a little different. Those people you were living with… I wouldn’t have come if they weren’t hurting you. Anyone who does that, gives up the right to call themselves parents.”

“But… won’t they be sad?”

“Maybe,” Kya said. “And you might be too, a little. We won’t stop you from going back, if you really want, but most of the other kids never want to. Not once they meet all their new brothers and sisters and siblings.”

“There’s other kids?”

“Oh, Linny, there’s a _ton_ of other kids! Just learning and playing and getting to be themselves. The grownups there, maybe they don’t dress as nice as some, but they really care about all you kiddos. You’ll see.”

“Will you be there?”

“I… not often,” Kya admitted. Her voice turned conspiratorial. “I’m a spirit, and I can only come out at night, when I hear one of my little people needs help.”

“You’re not a spirit!”

“I so am!”

“Spirits don’t drive cars!”

“That’s just what we want you to think. Let that be a little secret too, okay?”

Little Lin laughed.

Adult Lin found herself crying.

 

-

 

As President, Lin Beifong couldn’t condone what was technically kidnapping--no matter how much the child wanted it. Nor car theft, even if the vehicle was returned with a full tank and the owner none the wiser. There were laws for a reason, and the President was the most responsible for upholding them, even more, perhaps, than the Chief of Police had been.

Of course, since Lin Beifong officially didn’t know about anything of the sort, she saw no need to express an opinion on it, official or otherwise.

There was something she could do, but it took a little more time. The gears of government always did, after all.

After a month or so of quiet work, and very sound sleep, Lin was ready.

She rose before Kya, on one of the mornings Kya was conspicuously tired, as if she’d barely slept at all. Lin had her morning cleared, and enjoyed some tea while reading through reports and waiting for Kya to wake up.

Finally, she did, near onto mid day. She came out of the bedroom, clearly still fatigued but fully awake. “Oh,” she said, seeing Lin. “I figured you’d be in the office by now.”

“I can read reports just as well from here,” Lin explained. “There’s some tea ready.”

Kya smiled. “You’re a beautiful woman,” she said as she poured herself a cup.

Lin chuckled. “Thanks. Since you’re up, though, I thought maybe you could help me with a piece of legislation?”

Kya turned, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Lin. You know I hate that stuff.”

“And you know I do too. But seriously, come read this,” Lin said, pointing at a folder on the table.

Kya rolled her eyes, sighed, and took a seat. She opened it up and scanned the first page. Her mouth opened a little, then moved slightly as she reread the name of the bill. “Child Welfare and Safety Bureau?”

“Sounds a bit clunky, doesn’t it?” Lin complained. “I thought so too. But ‘Department of Protecting Kids’ apparently didn’t sound official enough.”

Kya looked up at her, eyes wary. “I guess not. Lin…”

“Mmm?”

“Why… I mean, this sounds like a marvelous idea, but… why?”

Lin shrugged. “Kids deserve better. We can do more. Especially for the kids whose parents don’t even seem to like them. What’s the point of being President if I can’t help the people who need it most and can protect themselves the least?”

Kya had a hand pressed against her chest. She nodded, scanning through the legalese.

“Of course,” Lin continued, “even the best law may have gaps in it. We’ll try our best, but hopefully community spirit will rise up to pick up our slack.”

Kya laughed. Kya cried.

Lin smiled into her tea.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a gift for, and inspired by, the incredible, irreplaceable slowdissolve. She spends so much of her time and resources helping kids and young people out there that she's never met, come to terms with themselves and cope with families and societies that shun them... she's just the sweetest, and a fine artist and writer, too! 
> 
> Ann, this one's for you. <3 
> 
> -edit, later: Ann loved this enough to do a fanart for it when I was in need of a gift! Thank you so much, my friend!


End file.
